Daddona Meets With Opponents Of Asphalt Plant

July 17, 1988|by BOB WITTMAN, The Morning Call

Allentown Mayor Joseph S. Daddona told a group of South Side residents yesterday that he sympathized with their concerns about the planned construction of an asphalt plant near Trout Creek Park, but he said there is little that the city can do to block the project.

"The law is such that a property owner has a right to sell or develop his land any way he wants as long as it is in accordance with our zoning laws," he said.

About 70 people came out to the park under a broiling sun to hear the mayor and linger for an hour, and a steady flow of others dropped by throughout the afternoon to sign petitions and talk with organizer James Engle about future plans.

Engle and his supporters call themselves the Friends of Trout Creek Park. They began meeting several months ago after Joseph Ciccone & Sons of Bath proposed to build the plant on the site of the now-closed Valley Iron & Steel.

The project has already received preliminary approval from the Allentown Planning Commission. The state Department of Environmental Resources has approved the air quality emissions that have been projected for the plant.

But the residents say that the noise will exceed the levels permitted by Allentown's noise ordinance. They fear that the plant will emit unpleasant odors and a high amount of dust into the air. And they say that the large number of trucks entering and leaving the plant will bring congestion to an area that is already overburdened with traffic.

Many of the residents' conclusions have been supported by a private study they commissioned from the Greeley-Polhemus Group, a West Chester consulting company.

Daddona praised the residents for their community interest and said that even if the plant is built, their concern will ensure that the plant isoperated properly.

"Through their vigilance, they will make sure that all the laws will be enforced as they relate to pollution, noise and traffic."

Before he left, Daddona said he would investigate alternatives to Ciccone's project.

He said it might be possible for the city to purchase the land from the current owner - if it could somehow raise the money. That way, the 14-acre tract could be added to Trout Creek Park or rezoned for residential use.

Another alternative, Daddona said, would be to find another developer that might be more suitable for the tract. He said that the Allentown Economic Development Corp. could be asked to help with that search.

Daddona noted the irony in the fact that the current owner, Jay Aronski, donated to the city many years ago much of the land that became Trout Creek Park.

In response to questions, Daddona also explained that the city gave Ciccone an easement for a new entrance to the property through a swath of the park to free the city of any liability if the company's trucks were to continue to use a narrow driveway across Trout Creek near the underpass along Mack Boulevard.

"If we don't give them the easement, they could sue the city," the mayor said.

The industrial tract is surrounded by residential areas like the Lancaster Park Apartments, where Engle lives, the Mountainville Shopping Center and Trout Creek Park - all of which were developed long after the Valley Iron & Steel site.

"This is a classic example of what happens when the character of a neighborhood changes," the mayor concluded.